page_title: Charles Bassi
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Bassi / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: Suomi: fi:Åbo Akademin päärakennus English: Main building of en:Åbo Akademi
context_page_description: Charles Francesco Bassi was a Finnish architect of Italian descent. He was the first professionally trained architect who permanently worked in present-day Finland. He worked, both as an independent architect and as an official responsible for planning new churches, in a Neoclassical style.
context_section_description: Bassi worked in a Neoclassical style and had a significant impact on the architecture of Finland in several ways. Notably, the city centre of Turku with its pronounced Neoclassical architecture contains several buildings by Bassi and was to some extent shaped by his work.
  In Sweden, where he began his career, only a single building can be safely attributed to Bassi's hand: Aske Manor in Uppland. In Finland, Bassi continued to work in the restrained form of Neoclassicism which was popular in Sweden (sometimes called Gustavian after King Gustav III) and practiced by his friend and co-worker Gjörwell. It stands in contrast to the more elaborate Neoclassicism that was later to become popular in Finland through the influence from Saint Petersburg, practiced e.g. by his successor Carl Ludvig Engel. Wiurila Manor has been described as the best example of Bassi's architecture from the 1810s. At Joensuu Manor he designed a granary which is the first secular Neo-Gothic building in Finland (1813). The churches designed by Bassi usually followed local tradition in their design, as this was often requested by the parishes. Most of them are restrained, cross-shaped churches. Among the later works of Bassi, the main building of Åbo Akademi University in Turku has been proposed as the most accomplished. It displays possible influences from the architecture of Carl Ludvig Engel in the centrally placed colonnade on the facade.
  Architects of a younger generation influenced by him include Pehr Johan Gylich and Charles Johnsson.
caption: Åbo Akademi University main building in Turku (1832-33)
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